Underrated Gems #4: Miracle (2004)

Directed by Gavin O’Connor. Starring Kurt Russell.

Growing up, sports movies were a classic in my family. Sports films as a genre held a particular place in our hearts because of our love for sports in general. We grew up with the Rookie (2002), Chariots of Fire (1981), Glory Road (2006), Remember the Titans (2000), and the Blind Side (2009) to name a few. Oddly enough, Miracle (2004), directed by Gavin O’Connor, never graced our TV and subsequently lacks the nostalgic glow present in so many others. By the time I did hear about Miracle, I was so loyal to my own sports heroes and stories that the fact that there was another movie out there more beloved than my favorite Remember the Titans only served to set me against it. It was not until I was in college that I finally set aside my own prejudices and sat down to watch Miracle, trusting my friends that it would not be a waste of time. 

It was not. Miracle is the greatest sports movie I have seen. 

Perhaps there is a greater sports movie out there, (for one I have not yet seen The Boys in the Boat), and I would count myself blessed to view a better sports movie than Miracle, but I have seen a lot of sports movies and none tops Miracle. 

What stands out about Miracle, you ask? 

To give some background, Miracle tells the story of USA’s 1980 Olympic hockey team as they prepare for and ultimately face off against the indomitable Soviet Union team who had won gold at the previous four Olympics (spoiler alert: USA wins this one). It begins with the hiring of the new USA coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell), and concludes with the USA atop the Olympic podium. Rather than give a summary of the plot and have this “article” resemble a small book, I will limit my points to certain qualities of the movie. If you have not seen the movie, I highly recommend it, and if you have, I recommend another viewing. 

There are many positive elements making Miracle an excellent sports movie, but I will focus on three: the scale, casting, and Herb Brooks. First, the scale of the story is ideal. In a sports film, the athletic achievement or event is used to tell some sort of overarching message, such as the value of teamwork or the evil of prejudice. This means that the quality of the message is tied directly to the quality of the athletic achievement. A success story about a high school team like Remember the Titans naturally carries less weight as opposed to one about a college team like Glory Road, precisely because the athletic achievement is less. However, there is a caveat when it comes to professional sports. Although at the highest level of athletics, professional athletes also raise the underlying question of how much are they motivated by personal gain. With a story such as the Rookie, one may always wonder how much the real life athlete was motivated by monetary gain no matter how well the movie portrays them. Good stories may be told in both contexts, but Miracle hits the sweet spot by telling about the Olympics, which in 1980 was the highest level hockey could be played at which was not professional. This is highly competitive hockey where the USA defeats the “greatest hockey team in the world,” while at the same time never giving the viewer cause to question the individual motives of the athletes. 

Next, with casting, sports movies face a particular difficulty. Do you cast athletes and teach them how to act, or do you cast actors and teach them how to play the sport. Often directors go with the latter, especially with sports such as football and baseball, which, while difficult, are easier to fake a higher level of play through camera trickery (or as in Remember the Titans, you hire 25-30 year olds to play high school athletes). The problem with this is that while the “acting” scenes may be stronger, the sport scenes suffer, which is a problem for a sports film, since as mentioned above the quality of play matters for the message. Sometimes this can be mitigated by using stunt doubles to play the sport while the actors act, but I believe this to be a serious mistake. If the actors in the sports story do not play the actual sport, there is a serious issue with the effectiveness of the movie, no matter how well you cover it up (the topic of stunt doubles in general deserves its own discussion, and I would love to see a piece looking at Tom Cruise and the effect of high level actors doing their own stunts). This leaves the first option, which I believe to be the correct option for a sports film - cast people to play the roles who can actually play the sport at a believable level for the story. This preserves the integrity of the sports scenes which are foundational for any sports movie. Miracle was forced into this decision by the particular complexities of ice hockey (this is a sport you cannot jump into without starting young), but whether forced or not, I believe it was the correct decision. It is important to begin with authenticity and then work on flaws, rather than seek to cover up flaws at the cost of authenticity. The fact that several of the player actors had previous drama/acting experience meant that they could put in solid acting performances, and telling the story from the perspective of Kurt Russell’s plaid-wearing Herb Brooks certainly helped to relieve their acting burden. 

Lastly, Miracle is just as much a story about Herb Brooks as about team USA, and as with any movie, the success of the film depends largely on the main character. Many things could be said of him, but I would like to point particularly to his commitment to a definite goal. From the first scene, Brooks tells the viewer what he hopes to accomplish: 

Brooks: “My goal is to beat [the Soviets]… at their own game.” 

Skeptical administrator #1: “Beat the best team in the world?! Gold medalists in ‘64, ‘68, ‘72, and ‘76? That’s a pretty lofty goal Herb.” 

Brooks: “That’s why I want to pursue it.” 

The viewer is given the goal at the outset and everything that follows works toward that goal. This is best depicted in a particular scene following a tied game with the Norwegian hockey team. I will not spoil it if you have not seen it, but suffice it to say the scene is so good I could watch it again, and again….. and again… The monumental success of team USA is not due to chance or accidental success, but the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of the players, directed by a coach who was perhaps the one person in the nation who actually sought to achieve the seemingly-impossible goal of overcoming the Soviets. 

And yet, despite all the work and human effort, the movie is still called “Miracle.” 

That is to say, as much as the achievement of the team is monumental, and the work and sacrifice make the success possible, there is still something more about it all - something supernatural. Miracle is not a religious film, yet by its title and Al Michael’s iconic line (so iconic they couldn’t recreate it but used the original 1980 broadcast) “Do you believe in Miracles? Yes!!” it invokes the idea of something more than just the hard work of the athletes. Here is where I believe Miracle goes from simply being a great film, to being a great film for Catholics. In the words of John Paul II, “A miracle is a ‘sign’ that the order we perceive is superseded by a ‘Power form above,’ and that it is therefore subjected to it.”¹ Any good sports film depicts the natural efforts of the athletes in their quest for victory, but many leave the story there. Miracle, however, while pointing to the incredible work of man, also describes the event as something distinctly supernatural. It opens the door to further questions of the cooperation of human and divine activity, questions which can only be properly addressed in the Catholic context. The Catholic viewer is able to enjoy the merits of Miracle as a film, and is encouraged to bring the story to a higher plane. Yes, it is tremendously difficult to achieve a lofty goal such as defeating the greatest hockey team in the world with a team of amateur players, and the players and coaches rightly deserve praise. Such a goal is indeed lofty, and as such it takes tremendous sacrifice and commitment to achieve it. However, as lofty as this goal is, heaven and union with God, are far loftier and ones which every Catholic must strive for, whether he be an Olympic hockey player or not. I pointed to the excellence of Miracle in its scope, its integrity in casting, and its goal-driven protagonist. As great as the scope of an Olympic hockey game is, how much greater is the scope of any person’s pilgrimage in this life which ends either in eternal life or in eternal damnation? As important as a movie’s faithfulness to its genre is, how much more important is a Catholic’s integrity and authenticity to their nature as a son or daughter of God? And if it is crucial for a team’s success that the coach have a clear vision of the goal and order his team completely toward that, how much more must the Catholic know that he is called to sanctity and order all actions to being a saint? The Catholic viewer must not watch Miracle as some film that has no bearing on his own life, but rather must keep in mind the words of St. Paul “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”² The athletes and Herb Brooks exemplify tremendous effort and sacrifice to achieve a perishable wreath - how much more must we do to achieve an imperishable?

1. JPII “Miracles Manifest the Supernatural Order,” General Audience, January 13, 1988.

2. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25